This website is an outcome from my Graduation at the Design Academy called "On Learning Graphic Design Again". It contains a short story and a coding library.
After four years of design studies, I never questioned the automatic usage of software like Adobe, of which I know few manipulations that define my ‘visual creativity’ and allow me to call myself a graphic designer as I can proudly write on LinkedIn that I have ‘a perfect command of the Adobe Suite’. I manipulate images; it is my main medium, so using industry software felt both accessible and indispensable.
Sometime in September we lost access to Wi-Fi at home. We were 5 designers without internet, deprived of our contemporary tools: the computer. After trying multiple times to plug and unplug the router, to follow the cable in order to find the source, we quickly realized: it is a system we are entirely dependent on yet do not understand. So I made a quick list of struggles emerging from this generational blur of not understanding the technological landscape we live in: I don’t understand technology. * I don’t know the function or meaning of everyday words like ‘internet’, ‘cloud’, ‘data’, and ‘computer’. * This ignorance creates a contradiction within me. * My practice as a graphic designer depends entirely on my computer. * I spend 5 to 8 hours a day in front of my computer. * My ‘cloud’ constantly demands more money, which I dislike. * I call myself a graphic designer, yet I don’t fully understand the programs I use. * I pay €61.49 per month to access my ‘tools’.
From this, I started tracking my internet behavior. How much data do I use to make one image? Or, how many tabs do I need to open to research a topic?
From then on, I started following the cable from my router to its antenna and from the antenna back to the cable, and eventually I ended up at the sea, looking for the landing of the internet cables. The cloud felt far from immaterial as its representation: its construction is visible in our urban landscape, simply it is not explicit. In front of the sea, I realized that here was the end of my field research: the data was now going through the optic fibers straight to its data center, and back. Data is transiting as well as being a ‘stored’ body.
In response to these realizations, I wanted to relocate my practice as close as possible to my living and work environment. My goal was to build a small system for myself, where everything is stored and can meet my primary need: to modify images. So I started learning code, while trying to answer questions as: Where and how many images do I use? Where are they stored? How can I make them lighter if I need more? Can my computer consume less energy? Can I reshape my graphic design habits? Can I reconstruct my practice with an awareness of its technological composition?
This library stands as an first exemple of this 'trying out'.
You can use the code present on each page. Or access everyhting on my github: claramalan.